Birmingham teacher caught driving while banned gets job warning

TEACHER Karim Noorani from Birmingham, who was caught driving to work while banned, has been told he could be suspended or struck off from the teaching profession if he commits any type of motoring offence in the next five years.

A TEACHER caught driving to work while banned has been told he could be suspended or struck off from the teaching profession if he commits any type of motoring offence in the next five years.

Karim Noorani was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by a committee of the General Teaching Council.

He resigned as head of PE at The International School and Community College, in Gressel Lane, Tile Cross, in June last year after he was caught driving to work while banned.

The Birmingham hearing was told that Mr Noorani, who now teaches at Park Hall School, in Castle Bromwich, had been serving a three-year ban imposed in February 2005 for driving while disqualified, which also saw him jailed for three months.

Mr Noorani had earlier been banned from driving in 2001 for failing to provide a specimen of breath, and in August 2004 at Birmingham Magistrates for drink-driving.

Following the most recent offences of driving while disqualified on June 6 and 7 last year, he was further banned for three years and given a 12-month community order.

But Mr Noorani was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct because he breached a written assurance, given to headteacher Ruth Robinson, that he would not drive to and from work because of his ban.

Panel chairman Angela Stones described his driving record as "appalling" and said he had shown a disregard for the law.

"Mr Noorani has failed to maintain the standards of integrity required of a teacher and his actions have brought the profession into disrepute."

But she said they had taken account of the evidence from Park Hall assistant head Karl Brown of Mr Noorani's "positive impact" in the classroom.

Mr Noorani said he was "sincerely sorry" for what he had done but had learnt his lesson after the "short sharp shock" of his spell in prison.

He told the hearing: "I was going through a difficult time with my wife and that ended in divorce.